Gilan's Apprentice
by SilveryQuill
Summary: A rewrite of the current Ranger's Apprentice, following the same events but with the inclusion of a new main character, Will's twin sister, Emily, who becomes the first female Ranger and becomes Gilan's first apprentice. Follow the events of the story from a new perspective
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: I do no own anything from the Ranger Apprentice Series**

**Read and review please. Enjoy!  
**

Seated opposite her, Will was staring at his plate, picking at it with half-hearted stabs with a fork. His favourite foods lay stacked before him but his nervousness spoiled his appetite. Jenny seated beside him, shook her blond head lightly and pointed out his untouched food.

"Try to eat something Will. Tomorrow's a big day after all." she said cheerfully, trying to encourage him to eat. Will attempted to assure her that yes, he was okay but his terrible attempts at forcing a smile on his face showed otherwise. Emily decided to try her own way as Jenny's attempt had not worked. Aiming a kick under the table, the soft cotton slippers caught Will by surprise, causing him to jump in his seat.

"Eat or there would be more to come, brother." she said with a sly smile that never reached her eyes. Motivated by the show of violence and the threat of further pain, he slowly scooped up portions of his food and began eating. Her ploy had worked well but of course,someone had to spoil it.

"Taking orders from a girl now Will? Battleschool does not accept wimps you know." Horace sniggered, watching closely for Will's reaction to his verbal barb. Unable to come up with a suitable counter, he concentrated on stabbing portions of rabbit from his pile of food.

"Emi is just trying to get him to eat. Will's just nervous like the rest of us and probably has no appetite." Alyss, always the diplomat, was not actually nervous but said this in an attempt to defuse the situation. Horace not wanting to cross words with her, continued attacking his slab of pork, all the while keeping his mocking eyes on Will.

Resisting the temptation to poke Horace's eyes, she realized he had a point. Battleschool would not take Will. Besides Horace stood almost two heads taller than her, so to do as she wished she would have to probably stand on the table. And this pointed out another problem. Will was barely taller than her and would not fit Battleschool's criteria. Horace, though a pain, was the ideal candidate for Battleschool. Tall, strong and athletic, almost the complete opposite of Will.

Also, aside from Will's problem, she also had to think about her own future. Choosing Day marked an important change in life for castle wards. They were orphans as their parent's had died in their service to Redmount Fief and the Lord of the fief, Baron Arald, took it as his duty to raise the children of his deceased subjects. On Choosing Day, he and his various craftmasters would allow castle wards turning fifteen to apply for their crafts to serve the castle and the fief. The crafts that had vacancies were the Battleschool, Horseschool, Scribeschool, Diplomatic Service and Kitchen. Battleschool was out of the question, no one had ever heard of a female recruit. The same problem with horseschool, and her rough, unorthodox ways of dealing with problems meant that there was no way Scribeschool was going to accept her.

Her skill at cooking was good for poisoning people and little else so the Kitchen was not likely to accept her as well. That left the Diplomatic Service which required a short interview with Lady Pauline, the head of the Diplomatic Service in Redmount, which Emily had not gone for yet. Choosing Day never felt serious to her till today as she suddenly realized how important it was. If no craftsmaster wanted to pick her up, the next choice would be to work as a farmhand for the nearby farms. It rarely happened but the possibility was there and so the Diplomatic Service or a death sentence.

"Do you think its too late to join the Diplomatic Service?" she asked the tall,graceful diplomat soon-to-be beside her.

"It will be rather late but I'll back you up. You're probably in for a scolding though." Alyss replied adding the last bit teasingly.

Emily smiled to show her gratitude for Alyss and she returned it with equal warmth. The atmosphere had recovered from its previous volatile state.

"Why the Diplomatic Service Emily? You don't strike me as the peaceful type." George piped up from his silent end.

"Battleschool wouldn't take me in obviously and so would the rest. And I can be peaceful when I want." George nodded his head, understanding.

"Well Battleschool never had any females because they are seen as weaker than males. But I think that their minds are stronger and sharper and thus make better decisions ..." And his rant for justifying females for advisory positions continued till Horace decided that the peaceful atmosphere had to be broken.

"Either way, Battleschool will never accept you ever and that includes you Will. You need muscles to get in. Real muscles." He said,smiling smugly as he flexed his arms.

"Particularly between the ears." Will retorted, getting up swiftly, leaving the room. However, he did not go far enough and heard Horace's final retort. "That's right! Run away, Will No-Name! You're a no-name and nobody will want you as an apprentice." Horace,satisfied that he had the last word, prepared to return to his food. However, his head, propelled forward by a hard push behind him, crashed into the table, flipping the gravy bowl, spilling hot soup on him. Red-faced and furious, he turned, soup dripping out of his (color) hair. Eyes blazing, he looked for the culprit, but only caught a fleeting glimpse of Emily's heels as she and Alyss left the room in pursuit of Will.

As Emily was forcefully walking at a brisk, fast pace, Alyss had to jog lightly to catch up to her. Feeling Alyss' soft touch on her shoulder, Emily stopped and turned, showing barely restrained tears in her light brown eyes. "And so what? I'm a no-name too. Why does he have to be so mean? It's not as if we wanted to be this way."

No one knew Will and Emily's second name since their parents where unknown. Even though they were orphans, all the other wards had at least someone who knew their parents and could tell the wards about them but Will and Emily were found on the doorstep one late night, sleeping together in a basket.

Alyss pulled Emily into a hug, patting her brown head softly. Unable to think of anything else to say, the two stood in companionable silence until Alyss slowly pulled away, saying "Come on, lets go look for Will."

They began their search, wandering around the building, looking into the various rooms hoping to find Will. Finally, they reached the entrance of the ward, where the door was left open. The girls emerged into the dark courtyard and there was still no sign of Will. He wouldn't wander too far from the Ward so Alyss figured they might have passed him and she re-entered the Ward building to search. Emily however, stayed and sure enough, she looked up to spot a small figure seated high up in the huge fig tree that grew in the courtyard. Walking silently to the bottom of the tree, she sat below and called up.

"Alyss is worried for you. You should at least tell her you are okay." The small figure looked down, spotting her and climbed down to sit beside her.

"I'm sorry. Maybe if I had kept quiet none of that would have happened." Will said miserably, wiping the last signs of moisture out of his eyes. Horace's taunt had also affected him badly.

"If you had kept quiet, I would have thumped Horace on the head which I kind of did anyway." And she described Horace's gravy colored face to Will, earning at least a sad smile. Reaching out to hold each others hand, they sat in a comforting silence as the night slowly passed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Welcome to the next installment! I did not give a proper introduction of myself in the previous chapter but I am someone who loves the RA series. This was an idea which my friend suggested and I wrote it out. I will try to release a chapter once every week (But for the next two chapters which I have written out partly, they will come earlier.)**

**Once again, Read, Review and Enjoy!**

Ruffling through his sheets, Martin, Baron Arald's secretary, searched frantically for something that he could not find. He mumbled incoherently about his incompetence. How could he have not noticed that the boy had no last name?

"What's your family name, boy?" Martin asked rather forcefully and rudely.

Will obviously was caught of guard by the question as he did not know it himself.

"Will's a special case Martin. So Will, what would be your choice?" Baron Arald asked, sweeping his arm towards the five craft masters who stood waiting.

Will, relieved that he did not have to explain his shady past to Martin, looked to Sir Rodney. He pointed out the Battlemaster for the Baron and requested to join the Battleschool. However, Sir Rodney stepped forward and only did a short examination of Will before shaking his head and releasing his verdict.

"I'm afraid he's too small, my lord," he said. Emily looked to Will and could see that he was clearly shaken and was on the verge of tears. She hated to see him this way.

"Any second choice, Will?" the Baron asked prompting Will to pick another craft master.

Will tried to pick Ulf, the Horsemaster, to get into Horseschool which could be said to be an assistant to the Battleschool but Ulf shook his head without hesitation, giving the same reason as Sir Rodney that Will was just too small. Her brother now had moisture building up in his eyes as the tears prepare to spring forth, held back by his determination not to embarrass himself in front of the Baron. Unable to take it longer, Emily spoke up.

"My lord! May I ask that you reconsider Will for Battleschool? He is stronger than he looks and he would a good addition to the Battleschool." Emily reasoned, gaining the attention of everyone including a figure she had never noticed before. Did he just enter the room? Halt, the Ranger stepped out from the Baron's chair , no , behind the Baron's chair but it seemed like he had just appeared out of no where. Black magic? Emily realised that she could not focus clearly on the Ranger as he stepped forward to stand beside the Baron. Maybe there really is magic.

"Young lady you do not interrupt the Baron when he is talking to the other applicants! Apologise immediately!" Martin barked, clearly displeased with Emily's actions. The Baron looked to Sir Rodney, whose stance on the matter remained unchanged. Will could not go to Battleschool. He could not enter Horseschool either. The rest are definitely out of the question as Will had neither skill in cooking, legal advisories or diplomacy. Emily prepared to plead with the Baron when Halt suddenly tapped the Baron on the back and showed him a paper. The Baron scrutinised the paper carefully and frowned after reading the message.

"You're sure of this, Halt?" he asked, looking slightly bewildered.

"Indeed, my lord."

The Baron carefully folded the paper and placed it on his desk and he returned his attention to Will.

"I will have to think about your situation overnight. Do not worry, I will get you somewhere." and the Baron moved away and finally turned his attention to Emily, gesturing her to begin.

"Emily, my lord." she said. Martin once again, began looking through the papers, trying to find another item that he could not find.

"Martin, Emily has the same case as Will." The Baron said, forestalling Martin's obvious question. "Your choice, Emily?"

Now that her moment had arrived, she wondered whether it would be stupid to voice out the decision she had made moments ago. Before she could ponder any further, she replied the Baron.

"My lord, I wish to be a Ranger."

The whole room immediately burst into commotion. Horace began laughing, thinking that it was a joke while Jenny and George frowned at her as if she had lost her mind. Alyss raised an eyebrow but said nothing. The craftmasters began talking among themselves. The Baron and Will were stunned, their mouth opening and closing, unable to form any words to her unforeseen choice.

Martin was the first to seemingly recover and he began reprimanding her.

"Young lady, this is not a joke! This is a serious affair about your future! How can you joke about being a Ranger! Apologize immedia…"

He stopped when he realised Halt had walked past him and was now standing in front of Emily. The dark eyes met the light brown eyes and they stood locked. Emily had to admit that looking into Halt's eyes was a hard task and she constantly had the temptation to turn her eyes away from the terrifying display. But to do so now, she felt that she would fail the unspoken test that Halt set for her. After a few seconds that seemed like hours, Halt stood and approached the Baron's desk to write on another piece of paper. He showed it to the Baron, who had an even more exasperated expression than with the previous paper.

"Halt are you sure this is even possible?" he shook his head as he asked Halt.

Halt shrugged and instead of leaving the paper with the Baron, he took it back and held it in his hands as he returned to his spot behind the Baron's chair.

"Emily, Emily, Emily. May I know the reason behind your rather intriguing choice?" the Baron asked Emily

"Halt is like the craftmasters right? He rarely comes on Choosing Day so I thought he might be looking for an apprentice." she replied the Baron, confident that her inference was right.

"Emily, you should know that Ranger's pick apprentices, not the other way around. Plus, there has never been a female Ranger." he said, keeping his tone reasonable. He turned to the others and announced that Choosing Day was over and that a special feast for them had been prepared. He dismissed the wards to return back to their rooms.

But as they all left the Baron's tower and back to the Ward building, Emily went to the nearest window that showed the Baron's tower. The craftmasters were leaving the tower but she only looked out for one person. The figure, cloaked in the distinctive mottled tray and green, was still holding on to the paper as it left the tower and towards the stables. 

**Teaser for the upcoming chapter:**

The shaggy horse nickered as it watched Emily approach it. Reaching out for the saddle bags, Emily's hand was about to unlatch the poach when suddenly, a hand shot out and grabbed hers. She suddenly found herself lifted of the air, sailing in an arc before flying headfirst into the river, causing an eruption of spray.


End file.
